Dans les revues specialisees tout comme dans les revues economiques, on parle de plus en plus de veille technologique, de veille concurrentielle, de veille strategique. Cependant, peu nombreuses sont les pme-pmi qui maitrisent les notions liees a ces concepts : on confond le systeme d'information avec la veille, la veille technologique et la veille strategique, ou encore, on assimile la veille strategique et l'analyse strategique. De plus, lorsque l'on interroge les entreprises sur leur systeme de veille strategique, on constate qu'elles mettent en place des actions sans pour autant les identifier : elles semblent utiliser des pratiques de veille strategique, leurs responsables en sont persuades, mais ils eprouvent les plus grandes difficultes lorsqu'il s'agit d'en faire le recensement. Les actions conduites peuvent, par voie de consequence, souffrir de redondance, d'inefficacite et de manque de synergie, ce qui affecte la preparation de l'entreprise aux enjeux actuels et futurs. Cettethese a pour objectif d'esquisser quelques reponses a ces questions. Dans un premier temps, l'elaboration theorique d'un systeme de veille strategique est proposee afin d'apporter un eclairage sur chacun des concepts etudies. Ensuite, une re-visite du systeme par l'experimentation est abordee. Elle consiste, d'une part, a proposer une methodologie specifique de diagnostic des pratiques de veille strategique des pme-pmi, d'autre part, a mettre en place le developpement du systeme identifie a l'aide d'une methodologie de projet. Enfin, suite a l'experimentation, le systeme elabore est enrichi par la mise en lumiere du role des outils de management et des acteurs, ce qui permet de renforcer l'aspect dynamique du systeme propose.

This volume is part of an ongoing partnership between the Research in Management Consulting book series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), located in Ecully, France, on the outskirts of Lyon. The socio-economic approach to management (SEAM) provides a pathway to creating more engaged, more responsible and responsive, and more productive organizations. In many respects this volume reflects a culmination of ISEOR’s work, drawing together Henri Savall and Veronique Zardet’s insights and framing them in the context of strategy creation and, just as if not more important, strategy implementation. This volume casts SEAM in the context of strategy development and implementation. Reflecting on the changing nature of work and the workplace, the potential power of—and need to develop and build on—human potential has never been greater. Savall and Zardet have always thought that the Western concept of human resources was misguided, that people are not a resource to use up but rather a source of potential to invest in, develop, and nurture. People bring their potential to the organizations in which they work—and it is their choice as to whether they will apply it in their jobs. Thus, a core managerial challenge is to create an environment in which that potential can be maximized. SEAM-based strategy builds on this premise, developing an approach to economic and social performance, providing direction as to how managers can create and implement strategies that enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency. As Savall and Zardet argue, strategic vision does not have to be limited by constraints in the external environment—companies “are not compelled to enter in a ‘strategic’ tunnel” that mimics the competition and the market. Instead, companies can experience breakthroughs, turning constraints into opportunities by unleashing their internal energy, power, and cohesion, working and succeeding as a team. The SEAM approach to strategy is grounded in innovation and creation far more than imitation—and, as convincingly illustrated in the volume, that creativity can be self-financed through the value-added created by the elimination of organizational dysfunctions and the hidden costs they generate. The volume provides an insightful guide for enhancing economic and social performance, with a useful mixture of specific tools and techniques—grounded in a conceptual view of organizational life—interspersed throughout that illustrate how it can be done.

This volume is part of the ongoing collaboration between the RMC series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), a French intervention-research think tank co-directed by Henri Savall and Véronique Zardet. Building on an earlier collaboration on the ISEOR approach – Socio-Economic Intervention in Organizations: The Intervener-Researcher and the SEAM Approach to Organizational Analysis (IAP, 2007) – Buono and Savall bring together over 30 talented intervener-researchers to explore and examine the ongoing evolution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM). This volume revisits the application of SEAM in the context of intervention challenges in the wake of the recent economic crisis and the disruptive change that has taken hold across the world. The basic foundation of SEAM – built on the idea of strategic patience, the need to undertake holistic intervention in organizations, and the challenge to get organizational members to listen to themselves (through what they refer to as the mirror effect) – has remained the same. In response to economic and organizational pressures in the current environment, however, there has been a concomitant emphasis on helping client organizations achieve short-term results while still maintaining focus on the long term. Many ideas that have become part of the current discourse within ISEOR today were not as explicitly addressed in the initial volume – from the destructive effect of the Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism (TFW) virus, to the need to focus on ways to ensure the sustainability of a SEAM intervention, the growing importance of collaborative interactions between external and internal consultants, and the growing importance of cocreating knowledge with client firms and organizations.

The impetus for this work emerged from Savall’s belief that there is a doubleloop interaction between social and economic factors in organizations, between behaviors and structures, and between the quality of life in organizations and their economic performance. When managers underestimate this dynamic interaction, the resulting tension ultimately manifests in lowered performance and increased costs, what he refers to as the “hidden costs” of organizational life. Only by delving into the depths of these organizational dynamics can we hope to fully understand – and create the basis for improving – organizational performance. The Qualimetrics Approach presents a different and challenging way of thinking about analyzing organizations, one that draws together quantitative information, financial analysis and qualitative insights into organizational dynamics. As Savall and Zardet argue, to gain a true understanding of what is happening in organizations, intervener-researchers must focus on all three perspectives, as ignoring any one of them will lead to incomplete understandings. Their approach underscores the importance of using qualitative data to validate quantitative depictions (“the numbers”) of organizational performance in understanding the construction of financial statements. The strength of Savall and Zardet’s approach is that it pushes us to go deeper, to fully understand the narratives underlying the numbers and the social construction of our financial assessments.

The volume begins with a chapter by Henri Savall, founder and director of the ISEOR Institute and creator of the SEAM methodology, that presents an overview of the development of the socio-economic approach to management, and its guiding frameworks and methodology. The chapter s detailed explanation of the underlying thinking, tools, and techniques of socio-economic management serves as the primer for the remainder of the volume. The book is then divided into three sections. The first part presents illustrations of SEAM interventions in different types of organizations, including industrial and service companies, and not-for-profit organizations, including cultural institutions and sports clubs. The next section looks at cross-cultural applications and assessments of SEAM experiments in Africa, Asia, Mexico, and the United States, with a concluding chapter on intervening in multinational corporations in general. The volume concludes with a section that examines different issues and challenges in SEAM intervention, ranging from the impact on and role of middle managers in the SEAM process, intervening in small organizations, SEAM s facilitative role in operationalizing and institutionalizing information technology, conceptualizing, and implementing organizational change, facilitating merger and acquisition integration, and the application of socio-economic management in sales and marketing. The book also contains a combined glossary and chapter index that provides a definition of key terms and concepts in the SEAM methodology and where they appear in the volume. These key terms are highlighted in bold italics throughout the volume, illustrating their application in different contexts.

Aujourd'hui, la réussite ou l'échec d'une décision stratégique prise par une entreprise dépend de plus en plus de la valeur et de la pertinence de l'information dont elle dispose. Dans cette optique, elle se doit d'observer son environnement de façon permanente et systématique. Cette thèse de doctorat vise la conception et la mise en œuvre d'un système de Veille Stratégique et Concurrentielle appliqué à l'industrie de l'hélicoptère. Après une description détaillée du cadre stratégique et économique de l'industrie de l'hélicoptère, ce mémoire s attache a décrire et à analyser, pour une entreprise donnée, deux composantes essentielles du système d information de l'entreprise : le sous-système d'information documentaire et le sous-système d'information stratégique. Cette analyse repose en grande partie sur une enquête effectuée m situe auprès de plus de trois cent cinquante ingénieurs et cadres. A partir de ces analyses, un ensemble de propositions visant à mettre en adéquation les besoins informationnels et les moyens sont exposées. Ces travaux de recherche appliquée, réalisés en milieu industriel et bases sur des besoins concrets, ont abouti à l'élaboration d'une méthodologie et d'une organisation efficace et durable d'une cellule de Veille. Dans le schéma directeur de la Veille Stratégique et Concurrentielle, l'accent est mis sur le choix d'une organisation souple et sur la nécessite de situer cette cellule au cœur des défis stratégiques.

Parce que l'information est essentielle pour prendre des décisions, lancer des projets, se diversifier et identifier de nouvelles menaces, la veille stratégique est vitale pour les entreprises qui veulent anticiper les tendances et s'adapter au nouveau paysage concurrentiel de plus en plus complexe. Fréquente dans les grandes entreprises, elle est généralement inexistante dans les PME en raison d'un manque de moyens, d'une culture technologique insuffisante et parfois d'une absence de stratégie. Ce mémoire illustre les pratiques informationnelles d'une PME spécialisée dans le développement de médicaments génériques opérant dans un secteur en pleine mutation : émergence des biotechnologies, évolution réglementaire,... I.'analyse du processus d'innovation dans cette entreprise a permis d'identifier les éléments clés favorables à une mise en oeuvre efficace de la veille en PME. Ces pratiques reposent, d'une part, sur une forte " culture brevet " permettant la mobilisation d'un potentiel pour le traitement de l'information et l'innovation ; d'autre part, sur la gestion d'une information sélective, anticipative et stratégique s'inscrivant dans une logique de veille projet utile à la sélection des futurs développements de médicaments génériques. Ce travail d'analyse débouche sur la proposition d'un modèle d'organisation de la veille adapté à cette PME, s'appuyant sur un cycle de renseignement spécifique et "instrumentalisé" par la conception d'outils de traitement automatique de l'information